Taking model pictures (7)

Post-production

Now comes the time to tweak the pictures with the computer. Not being
a fan of piracy, I prefer to use free software. My favourites — but there
are many others — are XnView for simple or batch operations (for example,
to reduce the dimensions of several images at the same time), and Paint.net for retouching.

Obviously, they are not as powerful as Photoshop, but they are good
enough if you use a few tricks. Another solution would be The Gimp, but
I could never get used to its ergonomics…

XnView

I’m not going to explain the whole software operation, but only a few
functions that I often use.

Framing

Please crop your images! It’s so easy! We see too often on the Net
photos where a tiny model is drowned in a huge and uninteresting
background: a parquet floor, a carpet, or even a towel (I don’t invent
anything)! And use a plain soft coloured background, not a 60s style
tapestry! An exception though: if the model is presented in a diorama,
the latter probably presents as much interest as the model itself.

Type Ctrl + A to select the entire image. Small
square handles appear; move them to frame the picture as you want.

Tip: frame tighter at the rear of the model, and wider at the front:
a vehicle is supposed to move forward; it’s therefore necessary to let
it this possibility, even imaginary.

To crop the image, type Shift + X. Finally let’s save
the image. Before validating, click Options to check
the JPEG image compression. Prefer a value around 90% (even, at the
limit, 80% for a publication on the Internet).

Batch processing

Note: to return to the XnView Explorer, when an image is displayed,
simply double-click it.

XnView allows writing scripts (succession of repetitive tasks) and
applying them to several images or a complete folder.

Tip: specify a destination folder different from the original folder,
one is never too careful.

For example, I have a script that reduces images to 1000 pixels wide,
with a white border, 300 dpi (dots per inch), 90% compression, and
sends the edited images to a subfolder named Mod. To “write this
script”, in the context menu (right click), just choose the
Convert… option, set all the parameters once, and then
save the script by giving it a name if possible explicit, into a folder
with an also explicit name, like “XnView scripts”.

Colour Balancing

I sometimes use the Automatic Levels function because,
contrary to what I said above, XnView
applies a rarely caricatured treatment, and sometimes even almost
invisible. This is not the case with Paint.net in which this function
is almost never usable, but there has been progress in the latest
versions. The Automatic Contrast function, which does
not affect the colours but only the higher and lower lights, may also be
useful.

Paint.net

Here again, I will not describe everything. I will just explain
in detail how I cut the photographed object out to apply a more pleasant
background to it, for example a gradient of blue evoking the sky.

The model is photographed in front of a white panel that is neither
very regular nor perfectly illuminated. The result is a not very engaging
grey background. How to replace it, without the clipping path being too
obvious (scissors effect), and without spending a night to this
operation?

Attention: the following uses Paint.net Release 4, unlike the French
version that used Release 3. So, depending on the release, the process
may vary in some aspects.